A Tale of Two Blogs

Back in the days when I didn’t have my own pc, I’d go the neighborhood pc rental shops to have my weekly dose of surfing. It is in those cramped, hot and humble computer places that I learned the rudiments of blogging late in my life. My initial forays into bloggng soon gave birth to my very first blog which I called “Out of Whack” which was hosted by Friendster. I enjoyed it for quite sometime until the tedious routine of going to the shop when the urge hits me became too much of a hassle.

Long story short, I almost gave up blogging. After starting out of Whack in 2005 and posting around 26 blogs that year, I only came up with a measly 3 posts for the whole of 2006 and 4 posts for all of 2007.

Flash forward to 2008. After acquiring the means to be a full blown netizen, I revived my interest in blogging and signed up for wordpress after being inspired by a friend’s blog.  I called my latest baby “Playpen” and I haven’t stopped blogging eversince. Problem is, I was beginning to neglect my original blog in favor of the new one.

Good thing Friendster tried to spice up its blog section by tying up with wordpress and coming up with wordpress-powered blogs. It took a while for me to sink in but after some time I realized that since both blogs now run on similar platforms, it would be theoretically possible to combine them.

And combine them I did. Everything was imported into wordpress: pictures, attachments, comments, posts, etc. Almost everything except the url which I don’t mind doing away with. Ah, the best of both worlds!

If you happen to own a Friendster blog and want to export it to wordpress, here’s what you can do:

1. Log in to your friendster account

2. On your home page, go to your main toolbar >my profile >blogs

3. On your blog home page, click on View Blog button

4. On the next page click on Manage

5. On the secondary menu that will pop up directly under manage click on Export

6. On the export page, friendster blogs will help you automatically create a .xml file which will contain all your blog information. You can choose the name of the default author on the drop down menu then click download export file. It would be a good idea to save your xml file on the desktop to make it easily accessible later.

7. Once you’ve downloaded your friendster blog files, log on to your wordpress account and go to the dashboard

8. Click the manage tab

9. Directly under the manage tab, a submenu will show up. hit Import

10. On the import page, choose the previous system you’re using for your friendster blog. You should click WordPress which is located at the bottom of the list. Other systems supported are livejournal, Typepad, Blogger and Movable Type.

11. The next page should give you an option to locate the friendster blog xml file you downloaded earlier. select it and click upload file and import

12. Enjoy your new 2-in-1 Blog!

Blog Makeover

I just completed redesigning my esoterica blog after putting if off for another day several times already. It’s just a little retouch but darn am I proud of it! I’m not sure if it’s ethical but I got the harbor theme, modified the colors and images, added my own photoshop interpretation of a moonlit window and voila! I also trimmed down the sidebars. cut down the mindless stuff and added a Creative Commons License to boot.

Here’s a “before and after” comparison:

before: quickie header made using MS PAINT, crazy sidebar

after: smaller, PS CS3 designed header, saner sidebars

InQuizition: The Battle of October

Just came off InQuizition’s October edition last Sunday @ the EDSA Central Foodcourt. In attendance were mainstays “Mr. Quizmonster” Leo Gapol, the two Richards (the elder and the younger), Rodel, Bal, Wilfred,  and yours truly. Pierre Cantillero was there, ditto with Atty. Ramon Delas Alas who came out to serve (and observe) as an impartial (and impromptu) judge. Yes folks, here at InQuizition, lawyers instantly get promoted  to judges hehehe. Midway through the games, the brainy Baser brothers and 1st generation quizzer and perennial female contender Alice also dropped by to say hi.

Since July, InQuizition questions were patterned after the World Quiz Championship’s 8 main categories. Every round consists of 8 questions. One for each category. As always questions flew fast and furious. Some were unquestionably hard (What do you call a city that encompasses an entire planet?) others not so (In the MIG line of Russian fighter jets, what does MIG stand for?) but everyone had fun and learned a new piece of trivia or two. Several pitchers of beer, boxes of pizza and bits of tokwa and liempo later, the winners were known.

Kuya Gaps quite predictably romped away with the two titles at stake for the day: Overall Champion and King of the World Category. A battle scarred quiz veteran of the (relatively) new school, Kuya Gaps continued his winning ways which dates back to Battle of the Brains Mindmaster Edition. To those not in the know, Kuya Gaps was the one and only Mindmaster champion to have reigned an amazing thirteen weeks. Why thirteen only? Because the game’s organizers forced him to retire giving him an award and a tidy sum to boot, on top of his weekly winnings. That’s a nice way of saying “That’s enough, you’re scaring the shit out of the rest!”

If I’m not mistaken, the battle for October ended with Kuya Gaps notching 19 points, Richard Israel scoring 15 and yours truly falling just a hair’s breadth away with 14 points. Darn, I really need to practice more.

Check out these pics: (click to enlarge)

October King + World Category King

Richard: so close to victory he could smell it

My bronze pride

What’s your all time favorite poem?

I’d have to say my all time favorite would be a tagalog language poem by the Father of Philippine Freeverse, Alejandro Abadilla. It’s called “Ako ang Daigdig.” Most of you guys might remember this from high school or college “panitikang pilipino” readings. Well, read on:

Ako Ang Daigdig

ni Alejandro G. Abadilla (1940)

i

ako

ang daigdig

ako

ang tula

ako

ang daigdig

ang tula

ako

ang daigdig

ng tula

ang tula

ng daigdig

ako

ang walang maliw na ako

ang walang kamatayang ako

ang tula ng daigdig

ii

ako

ang daigdig ng tula

ako

ang tula ng daigdig

ako

ang malayang ako

matapat sa sarili

sa aking daigdig

ng tula

ako

ang tula

sa daigdig

ako

ang daigdig

ng tula

ako

iii

ako

ang damdaming

malaya

ako

ang larawang

buhay

ako

ang buhay

na walanghanggan

ako

ang damdamin

ang larawan

ang buhay

damdamin

larawan

buhay

tula

ako

iv

ako

ang daigdig

sa tula

ako

ang tula

sa daigdig

ako

ang daigdig

ako

ang tula

daigdig

tula

ako

Ole King Richard

I first heard about Richard Pante 13 years ago.

Well not really, I think I first saw his name in a piece of manila paper hastily pasted on the PUP West Wing’s campus walls along with signs that read “Mga kabataan, pumunta sa kanayunan, sumapi sa CPP-NPA” and “Ramos Tuta ng Kano”. The manila paper cris-crossed with black markers was advertising an upcoming event :  The Grand Finale of Uniwide Sales’ Battle of the Brains, to be held at the PICC later that day.

I was a college freshie back then. Richard was already in the graduating class and he stood as our school’s Grand Finalist for the prestigious event.

I never knew who he was or what he looked like but I decided to root for him anyway. The day was July 21, 1995. I was familiar with PUP quizzers like Pierre Cantillero and Oliver Tungol as I’ve watched them play on TV back when I was in highschool. They were pretty impressive and I remembered thinking, if this Richard guy is cut from the same mold, I knew I’ll be in for a good show.

Well, I got more than I bargained for.

As history would have it, Richard steamrolled his way through the contest and emerged as the runaway victor with plenty to spare. That was the first time I felt really proud as a PUPian (the second was after Pierre Cantillero copped the Asean BOTB championship three years later) and that made me want to know the man who was one of the architects of the PUP Quizzers’ Circle’s meteoric rise from obscurity to almost dynastic supremacy in a few years of joining the major league of academic quizzes at the time.

After the dust of celebration settled, I decided to make my move and find a way to worm myself into the group. After joining one of the campus contests that served as a rite of passage, I got to see him up close for the first time. Boy, is he tall…and lanky too. He reminded me of Ernie Baron (God Bless his Soul) with his looks and choice of clothing (long sleeved, buttoned shirts). Tall he is indeed, but unimposing. After I formally gained entry into The Circle by topping the quiz contest for the erstwhile PUP College of Languages and Mass Communications, Richard welcomed me into the group with his deep, croaky voice.

Little by little, I got to know the man: His unholy preference for lugaw and his penchance for long sleeved shirts and once-in-a blue moon smoking (he only smokes if he’s very happy or very sad, he says) though I never saw him puff a cigarette ever. He also shared some of the finer points of technique that enabled him to master the odds and emerge triumphant. If there’s one thing this guy has, it’s character, and a stubborn will to succeed at all cost. He viewed quizzing as an art and a science that can be mastered. He demonstrated that one need not be born gifted to make it good in this mind sport.

Before long, I found myself winning one academic quiz game after another. The most memorable of which was the KATAGA Quiz contest sponsored by the PUP Scholars’ Society which I won as a Freshman. Richard told me that I was the first freshman and non-engineering student to win that contest. I don’t know if he’s just pulling my leg.

I was not so lucky in Battle of the Brains, however. I only reached as far as the quarterfinals but I managed to represent the school twice. I was more than grateful for that opportunity which wouldn’t be possible without Richard constantly egging me to practice to join this or that contest.

This scheme of things continued long after I left college. We maintained contact – and kept our winning ways. He won contests like Game KNB and Weakest Link, both of which I joined and won too plus a few other game shows along the way. With his earnings he was able to purchase a townhouse unit in Dasmarinas, Cavite. Like Richard, I’ve never felt what it was to live inside a house that I own so I followed suit and bought a House and Lot unit a few months later – in the same subdivision to boot. To this day, I believe this is one of the best decisions I ever made, as the value of the property rose sharply shortly thereafter.

More than just a mentor, Richard is the truest friend one can hope to find. He is also the “kuya” I never had.  Beyond college life and gameshows, he’s always been there to guide and help out during some of my most “historic” moments: He was there when I downed 13 bottles of Colt 45 in OBEERTIME along Pasong Tamo, he was the one who taught me how to chat via MIRC and use the Internet @ Bill’s Gate in C.M. Recto more than 10 years ago. In short, aside from being the trivia-wise wizard that he is, he also introduced me to the lighter side of living in the metro. If you told me 10 years ago that I’ll be singing in public karaoke bars I would’ve laughed till my jugulars burst, but I do now – without shame or second thoughts – to the detriment of the listening public, thanks to this guy.

But if there’s anything that sets him apart from the rest, it’s his selfless will to help other people to the furthest of his means. That makes him King not just to a “younger” generation of quizzers but to most everyone who knows him at large. Ole King Richard indeed.